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Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Hey, good morning everyone. Welcome back to Sober Readings. Today is Monday, the sixth of July. Let's begin today's episode with the serenity prayer. God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections Identifying Fear. The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear. That's on page seventy six of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. When I feel uncomfortable, irritated, or depressed, I look for fear. This evil and corroding thread is the root of my distress, fear of failure, fear of others' opinions, fear of harm, and many other fears. I have found a higher power who does not want me to live in fear, and as a result, this experience of AA in my life is freedom and joy. I am no longer willing to live with the multitude of character defects that characterize my life while I was drinking. Step seven is my vehicle to freedom from those defects. I pray for help in identifying the fear underneath the defect, and then I ask God to relieve me of that fear. This method works for me without fail. And is one of the great miracles of my life in Alcoholics Anonymous. Today's reading from twenty four hours, july sixth, AA thought for the day. We tried to study our alcoholic problem, wondering what was the cause of our strange obsession. Many of us took special treatments, hospitalization, even confinement in institutions. In every case, the relief was only temporary. We tried through crazy excuses to convince ourselves that we knew why we drank, but we went on regardless. Finally, drinking had gone far beyond even a habit. We had become alcoholics, men and women who had been destroying themselves against their own will. So ask yourself today, am I completely free from my alcoholic obsession? Today's meditation for the day. Ask and ye shall receive. Never let yourself think you cannot do something useful or that you never will be able to accomplish a useful task. The fact is that you can do practically anything in the field of human relationships if you are willing to call on God's supply of strength. The supply may not be immediately available because you may not be entirely ready to receive it, but it will surely come when you are properly prepared for it. As you grow spiritually, a feeling of being plentifully supplied by God's strength will possess you, and you will be able to accomplish many useful things. Today's Prayer for the Day I pray that I may claim God's supply of strength by my faith in him. I pray that it shall be given to me according to my faith. Today's meditation for the day from touchstones. Is the inventor of the ear unable to hear? Is the creator of the eye unable to see? That's in Psalms ninety four nine. The way we have been restored to our spiritual path is partly a mystery. Our willingness to accept mystery in our lives has taught us we are part of a larger whole. There is more at work in the world than we can know. Acceptance of the larger whole restores us to health. We are not just separate beings with a private world. Our existence is part of a larger process. We came into being with no control and no forethought. On our own part, we arise from a past that no one remembers. It was when we didn't see our place as part of creation that we were in the greatest pain and difficulty. Now each day, each hour, when we remember we are not in charge, and our will is not in control, we are restored again. I am thankful for the mystery of recovery. I accept this mystery as part of all the mysteries beyond my control. And for today's final reading, I'm gonna read from the Grapevine of April of 2026. And this short story is titled Serving Online: Becoming a GSR Opened a New World for Bob. And because he was a computer guy, the growing kept going. My name is Bob and I'm an alcoholic. I remember well the first time I said those words. I thought my heart was going to pound right out of my chest. I have said that thousands of times since that first night in Rhode Island so long ago. So much has changed since then, way more than me changing my address to Florida. This story goes into the file how to teach an old dog a new trick. When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, one of my AA friends called me to say, We're going to start an online meeting. Do you want to join? That was the beginning of an amazing ride and a new chapter in my sobriety. We started off slowly, but our meeting has gained traction, and we now host about 75 alcoholics every day, and 50 or more on weekends. After a while, we realized that our online meeting was here to stay no matter what happened in the world outside. We decided to make the meeting permanent, including collecting contributions, registering with our local intergroup and GSO in New York, and posting our login and password on AA's meeting guide app. ⁓ and we elected a general service rep, GSR. That would be me. I've always done service work at the group level and I sponsor several men, but I really had no idea what I was in for. I did not understand the relationships between the area and District and GSO, and I didn't understand at all how our society functions. I knew about the steps and the traditions, but was clueless about the 12 concepts for world service. Because I'm the GSR, I received the mail for our group. I was notified that North Florida District 16 had created an area specifically composed of online groups. It would be called Area 2. I was sent the meeting information. We would meet online on the third Saturday of every month. Still not understanding much of this, I attended my first area meeting, hosted by our district committee member DCM. Because it was a new area, the first meeting was a time to set up officers and committee chairs. The Corrections Committee chair position was open, but I was feeling overwhelmed already, so I did not raise my hand for it. The next month we had a presentation from the Secretary of Online Intergroup. On how to set up a website for our new area. Who knew that AA had a service arm just to support online meetings? AA is truly amazing in so many ways. After the presentation, our DCM said, Bob, you seem to know so much about computers. How would you like to take on the project of creating a website for area two? I was the only Bob in the meeting, so I hesitatingly said yes. One of my favorite lines in our literature is Is in the 11th step chapter in our 12 and 12 book. God does move in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. I had no idea what was about to happen in my life. After this meeting, I went on vacation with my wife for a week. Two days after we got home, I developed an intense pain in my left knee. My doctor said I needed to stay off my knee entirely for up to eight weeks to allow it to heal. Now, I'm a person who loves to stay busy, so the prospect of not leaving the house for that length of time seemed unachievable. This is where my program and my newfound service commitment saved me. I threw myself into building the website for Area 2. Of course, being an alcoholic, there were numerous revisions, reformats, alterations, adaptations, and rewrites before I was satisfied. Then I learned about Hyperlinks, graphics, embedding, and on and on. In the process of all this, I became aware of other areas of computer knowledge I was lax in. This opened the door to numerous online learning courses through my public library. I'm now seven weeks into my rehabilitation. My knee feels much better, my spirits are great, my brain is much improved, and the Area 2 website is on the cusp of being published. Boy, I have learned a fabulous new lesson on the joys of giving back and being part of AA. Another one of my favorite lines from our literature tells us about the joy of living. And thanks to AA and all of you, I know exactly what that means today. Bob C., Jacksonville, Florida. And thank you, Bob, for submitting that article to the Grapevine back in April of this year. I'm also a computer guy. I've been working in IT for 17 years. And during the pandemic, I also assisted in setting up not only Zoom meetings but also a website for my local AA group. So that hit home for me. So thank you everyone for listening today. If you enjoyed the show, hit that like button and that subscribe button so you don't miss the next episode. If you'd like to be a guest reader on the show, I'd love to have you just send me an email at sober readings with Scott at gmail.com. Also, if if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings, just go to soberreadings.com and click that donate button. So thanks again for listening. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll see you in the next episode. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other. And remember, just for today, don't drink, go to a meeting, and keep coming back. Have a great day. And as my friend Larry says, best day ever.